The bulk of coal transport from the mine to a point of use is accomplished by rail transport, and it has also been proposed to transport pulverized coal from the mine to the point of use by water or oil slurry pipelines. The expansion of railroad unit trains, which now move most of the coal presently used, has many cost limitations, and would have an adverse impact on the environment, as well as using liquid fossil fuel for train propulsion. The use of pipelines and water slurries are satisfactory from an operational standpoint, but the best mine fields are desperately short of water, without the need to use it for slurry transport, while at the delivery end the water degrades the coal and must be removed, as well as clarified as it is returned to the environment.
It is also noted that, in the event that pulverized coal is transported with oxygen containing air as the suspending gas, a dangerous explosive mixture would be present, which could easily be ignited by static electricity generated by the flow of the coal through the pipeline.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of transporting coal from the mine to the point of use, which will avoid many of the problems with the previously proposed systems, as outlined hereinabove.